If we're talking about what is almost implicit - biggest drop in quality after a culture-conquering 1985 Grammy nod record - then perhaps that underscores why the Prince is such a disappointment. I mean, I'm not sure what could have followed "Purple Rain," but this is the only record of the above bunch that willfully, erratically flouts expectations.

i kinda feel like EVERY prince record, at least when he mattered, is erratic and flouts expectations, even the good ones. when i finally heard Around The World after seeing it kicked around for years i was like damn, this may not be top tier but it's totally of a piece with his output of that era.

If you can access this link, Billboard ran a front page story a week after ATWIAD's release about the frustration from programmers who didn't get a single and record store owners who weren't selling as many copies because Prince refused to release a single.

it's so surreal to think about a major artist dropping an album without an advance single, which i guess was a little more common back then, living in the era of yearlong singles campaigns before the release date

xps dance around it all you want, but Radiohead is still a major artist despite having no radio presence. I think something like that happens about as often now as it did in the 80s (which is, to say, rarely).

i know it's always been somewhat rare. i just mean that pre-SoundScan first week sales weren't everything so not having a blitz of advance singles wasn't necessarily a Radiohead-style act of defiance. even something as deliberately engineered to be a blockbuster as Born In The U.S.A. just had its first single released exactly a month before the album.